Back in 2011 I attended the New York City Barefoot Run. I was in town for a meeting organized by Merrell Footwear (they invited a bunch of folks – scientists, writers, journalists, runners – to talk shoe trends), and the Barefoot Run was included on the list of events for the weekend. Rather than participate […]
Effects of Running Speed on Foot Strike Patterns and Identification of Multiple Heel Strike Types
February 12, 2014 By 17 Comments
It’s becoming more and more clear based on existing research (and research coming soon) that foot strike patterns in running are influenced by a wide variety of factors. It’s not simply the case that humans use a single foot strike type under all conditions – factors like footwear, surface hardness, speed, and experience all seem […]
I Think I’m a Pseudo-Heel Striker!: Study Suggests That As Many as 25-33% of Heel Strikers Exhibit a More Midfoot Loading Pattern
August 13, 2013 By 25 Comments
One of the points I’ve attempted to make repeatedly is that there is a lot of variation among the biomechanical properties of heel strikes when we compare runners. As evidence of this I like to point to a photo compilation from the 2009 Manchester City Marathon that I put together that shows just how much […]
Is Heel Striking Evil?: More Evidence that All Heel Strikes Are Not Equal
May 24, 2013 By 50 Comments
We humans like tidy little categories. With running shoes we like to take the diversity of options out there and categorize things as neutral, stability, motion control, lightweight, minimal, etc. without considering that shoes within each category are sometimes so variable as to make the category as a whole meaningless. For example, the business world […]
Foot Strike Pattern in Running Adolescents Changes With Footwear Type
March 21, 2013 By 3 Comments
I just came a across a link to an article on Science Daily that discusses a study that was just presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Details are scanty, but the study authors apparently recruited 12 experienced adolescent runners (they were on track teams) and had them run on a treadmill in […]
Foot Strike Patterns of Runners at the 2012 Western States Ultramarathon
November 10, 2012 By 22 Comments
A friend on Twitter (thanks Josh N.!) forwarded me a link to a post on the Sharman Ultra blog that discusses research results from the 2012 Western States Ultramarathon. A group of researchers had set up a study to look at foot strike patterns and stride characteristics of runners at several points in the race, […]
